This series follows the trials, tribulations, successes, and failures of a fairly inexperienced GM who has recently picked up the hobby after a long time away. It aims to assist new GM’s by examining what worked, didn’t work, and what failed miserably as he spins up new campaigns, modules, encounters, and adventures for his friends and family in Fantasy Flight Games’ Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion/Force and Destiny system.
Well this is the column I didn’t want to write. I figured it would be written some day, but I had hoped that it wouldn’t happen so soon. But the simple fact is, this will be the last regularly scheduled The GM Awakens column. As it is, I am stepping down from regular contributions to d20 Radio in written form. I’m not going away, and I will still be doing writing once in a while. However, submitting weekly columns is becoming difficult since a recent life change.
I love where I work. I have the best job I’ve had in my career and work for the best company ever. Prior to the end of last year, I was fortunate to be the recipient of a large promotion that significantly changed my role, work hours, responsibilities, etc. It’s all a good thing, and something I worked to achieve. However, that’s the thing that caused me to be unable to keep up with my writing commitments. For the past year and a half I have been able to use my lunch hour from time to time to help write the column. But now, my lunch is a time I can get some work done with no meetings, so that has taken my time. I also have some evening and weekend responsibilities. So, despite my best efforts these past few months, I won’t be able to keep writing on a regular schedule. But this column, the Gamernation, and d20 Radio have shifted my life around so significantly, and I’m not going anywhere. But how the heck did I get here?
Back in 2015 I picked up a strange, red Star Wars roleplaying book, seemingly new. At the time I wasn’t up on all the latest news about RPGs. I was excited because the first new Star Wars movie was being filmed, my kids were getting to the age they could play things, and the spark was re-lit to dive back into the hobby. I didn’t have anyone to play with yet, but I grabbed the Age of Rebellion core rulebook. I had it a while and I didn’t play, I just read the rules hoping some day I could play it. Then word spread through friends and family that I had this book, and after a while, I began to get the idea to start a campaign and run it for my friends and family. The best part, this became a way to get the family into game night, and doing SWRPG instead of Clue or Monopoly. So it was a win all the way around. That campaign is approaching 2 years solid running soon now. It was around this time I began to binge the Order 66 podcast episodes and started to learn what the Gamernation was all about.
In the months ahead, I had the chance to start a second campaign with friends at work, playing once a week over lunch. Two campaigns running at the same time, and both are still plowing ahead strong. Then in summer of 2016, a call went out for writers for the d20 Radio website. I thought it might be fun to jump in and start some writing, and I wrote a couple sample articles and sent them in to see if they would be approved. Thankfully, they were, and I was suddenly a staff writer for d20 Radio. I decided to write about the things I was running into as a GM, and then examine a lot of aspects of the game I find interesting. I thought that I could add a unique perspective of a GM who wasn’t just new to the SWRPG, but one that was new to GMing (at least since college). I couldn’t be more pleased with the response. I have had countless messages to me about my articles, a lot of kudos, and added dozens of friends to my friends lists as a result. It was the best decision I’ve ever made.
Then, last summer, after a moment of feeling quite down, I decided to take a plunge and do something that I’d always thought of doing… start my own podcast. After talking to my friend, Donald, and churning through the details for weeks, The Movie Defenders Podcast was born. We loved movies, and we often would have conversations with others about films that we felt had a lot going for them, while many were critical of them. So instead of just chatting about film, which was being done all over the internet, we decided to discuss heavily criticized films and reveal what was strong about them or at least, give folks a different way to look at the movies. It’s been more successful than I could have hoped for with almost zero promotion. We have subscribers in 14 countries and are beginning to get listener requests for films to review. But a big part of this was due to d20 Radio Network as well.
After the show had been around a few episodes, on a wild idea, I wrote the owners of d20 Radio and asked what I needed to do to be part of the network. I knew that the podcast we had is different, not related to gaming, and would be one that depending on the film we reviewed, might be controversial or maybe something most wouldn’t listen to. I was surprised when we were immediately accepted into d20 Radio’s family of podcasts. Our listenership spiked big time. I couldn’t be more thrilled. There are other podcasting networks that would be more applicable to the kind of show we have, sure. But I don’t want the show to live anywhere else.
The point to all this above is that in just a few years, after seeing that large, red book in the game store, I have two campaigns going strong, a podcast part of the d20 Radio Network, and a Gamernation full of friends. Geeks and gamers, I humbly believe more than almost any sub-set of society are among the most charitable, kind people around. It’s a wide-spread, but close community that for over 20 years I had stopped being a part of due to life. But I couldn’t have made a better decision than to submit my writing samples for the website. I couldn’t have imagined when I did the amazing people I would meet as a result, nor having my own show on the network.
So, while I will still write from time to time, my weekly, Friday columns are going to have to come to a close. Perhaps life will shift again and I can begin regularly contributing again. But fear not… I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be down at Gamernation Con this April, and can’t wait to shake many of the hands that I’ve gotten to know through this amazing group.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much to all my readers. The response to my writing has been something I didn’t expect, and it has been very humbling. Please don’t hesitate to reach out, I’ll be around.
Until next time… May the Force be with you.
Sincerely,
Scott Alden
Scott Alden
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